Helping small businesses capture leads and automate the follow-up

Using research to fix an onboarding flow that wasn’t working.

Summary

Role: Product designer II, owned Appointments and Forms
Team: Cross-functional onboarding team: 1 PM, 6 engineers, 1 data analyst, 1 ux researcher
Timeline: May to November 2021
Tools: Figma, Zoom, Miro
Outcome: Recommendations handed off for A/B testing / and slated for EOY 2021 ship

Keap’s data showed that people who used lead capture were 3X more likely to go from free trial to paid. But a new onboarding flow skipped steps and buried people in popups, and form use didn’t go up. My research showed the real pain wasn’t getting leads in. It was following up on them. I redesigned the flow around that and cut the share process from 4 steps to 1.

Quick background check

Keap is a CRM and sales/marketing automation tool for small businesses. Think Hubspot, but for the smaller entrepreneur level business.

Keap’s product-centric model and data teams had discovered that certain features such as their “lead capture” tools were 3X likely to convert free trial users to a paid subscription and retain them at a much higher level if they were effectively onboarded with these tools.

Among owning Keap’s Appointment and Forms features I was also a part of a cross-functional team that focused on onboarding new and existing users into setting up these lead collection methods.

Problems with Onboarding

Product management introduced a “bowling lane” onboarding flow: a guided path with bumpers that keep new users on track. But it had problems:

  • It skipped users ahead to step 3 of a flow they’d never seen
  • It leaned on too many guide popups, which confused people
  • The main goal, getting people to share their lead form, didn’t move, and the data didn’t tell us why

Where I pushed back
Instead of adding more popups, I proposed testing the bowling lane against a version based on research. PM agreed to an A/B test / and we aligned on the overall new flow and design. My goal was to let user data settle the debate, not opinions.

Modified version of production version

Discovery and refining a solution

The bowling lane replaced the questions we used to ask new users. So the “Capture leads” card on the dashboard became the main way in. I wanted to know how people understood it and what they expected to happen.

We talked with [X] small business owners through [interviews / an unmoderated test on X].

What we learned

  • Over half expected to import contacts or connect a form they already had. “Capture leads” meant more to them than building a new form.
  • “Capture leads” was confusing. We tested renaming it to “Create new ways to collect leads.”
  • People wanted to be told the best method. They didn’t want to compare options.

Collect Leads User Intent Research Analysis

Testing a new flow

I designed a short questionnaire: 2 questions, then a suggested setup path. It recommended a lead capture method that fit each person, like a simple landing page, a form template, or an appointment type. We ran it as an unmoderated usability test with 7 people.

What we learned

  • The biggest pain wasn’t getting leads in. It was following up on them. People wanted the follow-up handled for them.
  • Almost everyone said they felt “somewhat comfortable” with setup. So a questionnaire might be extra steps they didn’t need.
  • People felt uneasy embedding a form on their website, even though that was how they most wanted to share it.

Questionnaire flow for multi-channel lead collection

Questionnaire unmoderated usability test

Where people hand off to automation

Where people hand off to automation
People didn’t want to babysit their leads. They wanted Keap to follow up for them, and to step in only when a lead was ready to talk.

So I designed [e.g., a prompt to turn on automatic follow-up right after form setup], with a clear moment for the owner to take over. Automation does the busywork, and the person makes the call.

Simplifying the share flow

Sharing a form took 4 steps, and embedding code on a website scared people. I cut it to 2 steps.

I also added “Email the code to your web manager.” Many owners don’t run their own website, so they could pass the task to the person who does.

The redesigned onboarding

Here’s the updated bowling lane we set up to A/B test against the original. It puts lead capture first, suggests the best method, and makes sharing simpler.

So I designed this new prompt to turn on automatic follow-up right after form setup, with a clear moment for the owner to take over. Automation does the busywork, and the person makes the call.

Updated bowling lane A/B test design and flow

Results and what I learned

What happened
I handed the tested designs off for A/B testing before moving on to Cisco.

What we recommended next

  • Let people bring in the lead tools they already use, starting with “import from email”
  • A/B test the new onboarding to measure the lift in form use
  • A/B test the simpler share page against the old 4-step process

What I learned

  • Test it, don’t argue it. Putting the bowling lane up against a research-based version moved the team faster than debating.
  • Look one step past the problem you were given. We were asked to fix lead capture. The real pain was the follow-up.
  • Guide people, don’t quiz them. People wanted us to recommend the best option, not ask them more questions.

Let’s work on
your product together.

reach out

noblecreativeaz@gmail.com

Visit to download my resume and see my info